Walhi says government is not serious in dealing with Freeport?s accident

Indonesia?s leading non-governmental environmental group Walhi has said the government is not serious in handling the landslide accident at PT Freeport Indonesia?s copper and gold mining site in Papua, Koran Tempo newspaper reported on Thursday.

?We are thinking whether it is necessary to file a lawsuit like we did following the landslide case in 2000,? Walhi?s head of the education and campaign division Nur Hidayati told Tempo in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Walhi is now collecting the data regarding the causes of the landslide, which killed 8 people and injured five others on Oct 9. Nur suspects that the accident might have occurred because Freeport's negligence to follow the standard safety measures at the mine. Another possibility, according to Nur, might be overproduction.

Walhi has asked Freeport to reduce the production at its Papua mine, which is considered as the largest gold mine in the world. The mine's ore production reaches 250, 000 tons per day at present.

When asked to comment on the government?s investigation team, which was sent to the accident site, Nur said that the probe will not be effective and the government was not willing to reveal much details to the public regarding the case.

Earlier, the government said it would study the results of the investigation next week.

PT Freeport Indonesia is the unit of New Orleans-based mining giant Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (*)